A problem-ridden residential building in Belleville’s east end has a new owner — and yet another provincial enforcement order against the property, The Intelligencer has learned.

The building at 228 Dundas St. E. was once known as the Bel Marine Retirement Residence. It closed closed Feb. 24 after local agencies relocated nearly 50 tenants.

Three days later, the building’s electricity supply was disconnected as ordered by the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA). The building, which has changed ownership numerous times, has been the centre of numerous complaints and enforcement orders ranging from food safety to wiring hazards.

But it’s now surrounded by fencing and, while no workers were visible Wednesday, there are signs of recent activity. Dumpsters, portable toilets, construction waste and other debris were visible behind the building. Many windows had been opened.

“There shouldn’t be anybody in there doing anything,” said Belleville’s chief building official, Ted Marecak.

“At this point they don’t have any permits or approvals for anything from anyone that I’m aware of.

“They should certainly have a permit from the building department,” Marecak said of anyone working on the building.

That permit, he said, would be one allowing the removal of “interior finishes.

“It’s a very simple permit to obtain, but nobody’s asked for that.”

“There’s a stop-work order in effect by the Ministry of Labour until they get their ducks in a row,” Marecak said.

Ministry spokeswoman Janet Deline said no information on the ministry’s involvement was available Wednesday.

The building’s February closure resulted from the ESA order. It followed investigations by the Belleville Fire Department into fire hazards there. A city order prohibiting occupancy remains in effect, Marecak said.

Provincial land title documents reveal the property changed hands July 26.

That’s when a federal numbered company at the centre of some of the enforcement orders, 9087958 Canada Ltd., sold the property for $4 million to MLAM Properties2 Inc.

Also that day, MLAM Properties2 Inc. entered into a mortgage agreement with Prime Canadian Properties Inc. The latter firm is a former owner of the building and the current owner of 45 Bridge St. E., which once housed the The Intelligencer and Quinte Broadcasting.

Terry Mian, the operations manager for Prime Canadian Properties, said his company has “been holding the mortgage all along” but is otherwise not involved in the property.

“Not at all. Not one per cent,” Mian said.

He said he did not know the names of the building’s new owners but said he understood “they want to renovate it” into a “higher-end” retirement home.

The city’s Marecak said a woman describing herself as the property’s new owner visited him briefly at city hall in recent weeks.

“She was here basically to introduce herself and (said) that her team was working in the background to get stuff ready to submit to the city to make the place ‘what it should be,’” he said.

No one from MLAM Properties2 could be reached Wednesday for comment.

Marecak said he knew little about the company, which he described only as “not local.”

The ESA, meanwhile, has had no contact with the building’s owners since the electricity was disconnected Feb. 27, ESA spokeswoman Kara Fraser said Wednesday via e-mail.

“There have been no permits taken out and no requests to schedule any inspections related to the necessary repairs identified during the disconnection process,” she wrote.

“ESA will not authorize reconnection of power until the electrical safety hazards have been addressed,” Fraser added.

“At this time ESA does not have any open electrical permits on file and no inspections have taken place,” she continued.

“If electrical work is being conducted on the property the licensed electrical contractor is required to file the appropriate permits with ESA for the work being conducted,” Fraser wrote. “We will continue to monitor the situation.”

Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, the ESA and the city all have unresolved orders involving the property and various past owners.

Despite the building’s former name, at the time of its Feb. 24 closure it was not required to be licensed provincially as a retirement home, since the of the tenants were younger than age 65.